Saints following Seattle blueprint in secondary

Posted by Josh Alper on May 10, 2014, 11:23 AM EST

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Cornerback Stanley Jean-Baptiste’s last name makes him a perfect fit for life in New Orleans, but he may actually have the Seahawks to thank for the Saints making him a second-round pick on Friday night.

Jean-Baptiste stands 6-3, making him the kind of tall cornerback that the Seahawks have been collecting for the last few years. The Saints have been doing the same, with Jean-Baptiste joining Champ Bailey and Keenan Lewis as corners listed at at least six feet tall. The Kenny Vaccaro/Jairus Byrd safety tandem is one of the better ones outside of Seattle and coach Sean Payton said that seeing the Seahawks over the last couple of years has helped the Saints focus on the secondary.

“Look, [the Seahawks have] got a fantastic secondary,” Payton said, via the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “We’ve had a chance to see it firsthand. But I think it was trying to fit what we’re doing. A year and a half ago, starting before last year’s draft, we made an effort to really put a high value on size, and we’ve been able to do that defensively.”

Getting bigger makes sense for a team that saw its defense get pushed around a lot over the last few years and doing it in the secondary makes sense after seeing the way the Seahawks defensive backs led the way to a Super Bowl title. The pieces in New Orleans still need to execute, of course, but there are worse teams to follow when it comes to putting those pieces in place than the reigning Super Bowl champions.

I guess you could say it’s Seattle’s blueprint to a certain extent but remember who the Saints are playing against in their division next year… Julio/Roddy then 3 receivers on Tampa that are over 6’3 with V Jax/Mike Evans and the new 6’4 TE they drafted. They had to go big!

Ya the reasons why we lost to Seattle is because their secondary pretty much shut down our WRs. They couldn’t even get open. So enter 4.3 blazing speed Brandin Cooks. And the SJB drafting wasn’t a surprise at all. We already have a long lanky Corner in Keenan, now we got another one. Those WRs in our division are all huge. We need CBs like that.

Smarterthanyou says:May 10, 2014 11:40 AM

Everybody is trying to do it the SEAHAWKS WAY. They finally realized that the “patriots way” was fraudulent.
Now all of the other 31 teams want to become a dynasty team like the TRUE “genius”, Pete Carroll, has assembled

Neer Shah says:May 10, 2014 11:44 AM

@formuk – Don’t forget Kelvin Benjamin, drafted by the Panthers. I think the Saints liked Jean-Baptiste a lot, but the drafting of Evans & Benjamin made a big corner a need instead of being a want.

The Patriot way still works pretty good. They were in the AFC title game even with all their on/off field problems. Fraudulent? No. But the Seahawk way is superior, evident by all the copy cats. GO HAWKS.

Why wouldn’t you follow Seattle’s blueprint? They were simply one of the most dominant defenses ever to step on a field. Saints have the players to match. I’m predicting a Saints/Seahawks rematch this year…but it will be in New Orleans, unfortunately for my Hawks.

praetorian12 says:May 10, 2014 12:11 PM

The Brandin Cooks pick was brilliant. It’s not the big WRs that give Seattle trouble… it’s the speed merchants. Look at the stats: Seattle handles Colston, Larry Fitzgerald, etc. It’s the T.Y. Hiltons and the little speed demons that give them fits.

Interestingly, Seattle went and got their own speed demon with Paul Richardson….

I MUST give props to the Seahawks for what they’ve put together in a short period of time. They have the pieces to be a dynasty BUT they need to win another one or two more championships before they’re truly a dynasty.

Agreed. They have dynasty level talent, but the NFC is LOADED with talent and SuperBowl caliber teams: Saints, Niners, Eagles, Panthers, Packers, Cardinals…and up and coming teams like the Bucs, Rams, and a healthy Falcons could be in the mix. Hard to get through that meat grinder in our conference. Whoever does has to be favored vs Denver or New England.

asseenonokra says:May 10, 2014 1:10 PM

Why does everyone seem to forget that the Saints had the 4th ranked defense in points and yards last year?

Great pick for us . He adds size and physicality to a underated group of cornerbacks . We drafted a safety 2 linebackers and a ot who is more of a guard these picks might be shot down early but I would give the saints a b + in this draft . They focused on adding quality depth with Powell cooks and baptise possibly becoming starters

Just when all the teams think they’ve got something like Seattle going on, Seattle morphs into something new and beats everyone up, all over again…GO SEAHAWKS!

kuranda84 says:May 12, 2014 12:35 PM

As a Hawks fan living in Mississippi, it’s embarrasing to read some of these posts from other Seahawk fans. Stop trolling on another team’s post!

Saints are putting the right pieces together at the right time. Great pickup in Cooks – dudes a stud. The Saints had a very good defense last year AND and very good offense. Their games against the Hawks were hard-fought, and the Saints got better this offseason on both sides of the ball. The Saints away games this year are VERY winnable, and the Hawks have a tough road schedule. The NFC Championship could very well be played in NOLA this coming year. If so…the Hawks better watch out.